The Fox and the Strawhats
by Baku97
Summary: Plagued by his childhood and wielding the powers of one of the nine forbidden devil fruits, Uzumaki D. Naruto will set out into the world in order to fulfill his new goal of achieving peace and ending the cylce of hatred fueled by pirates and the world government alike. And what better way to do so than to become a pirate himself.
1. Prologue

Yo this is my first attempt at a crossover and honestly not sure how it's going to be recieved. I've got another story going at the moment but will be able to keep up both. Probably. Maybe.

p.s. just like to add that this is an integrated world crossover so the Naruto universe exists within the one piece world (although the Naruto universe will only be mentioned not actually storyline content).

Enjoy!

* * *

A Lost island somewhere in east blue

A man in a white haori stood over burning ruins, a solemn expression on his face. His blond hair dirtied and matted with sweat and his blue eyes steeled and hard. Rain fell as he watched as the flames licked at the night sky and the smoke, barely visible rose from the wreckage. A sudden wailing broke him from his stupor.

Clutched in his arms was a baby. If one were to look close enough they'd notice that the boy looked especially alike the man currently carrying him. His large bright blue eyes filled with innocence and the small tuft of blond hair atop his head showed promise that he would look like his father in times to come.

The man sighed as he once again gazed over the ruins of a large proportion of the village he'd called home his entire life.

"Kushina-chans gonna kill me…" he muttered idly to himself. His body had already begun to weaken and he could feel his heart rate slow, "suppose I better get you to safety aye, Naruto-chan?" he smiled down at the child and in response the baby stopped crying and instead adopted a gummy smile. There was a flash of yellow, and the pair were gone.

* * *

In a large tower, situated at the back of the village, shadowed by a cliff face with four, ornately carved faces, paced an elderly man. His greying hair spiked back and a small pointed goatee on his chin. His face showed his age and his expression was one of pure worry.

A sudden flash of yellow illuminated the room causing the man to swivel to face the source.

"Minato! You're back!" He greeted hurriedly, taking a step closer to the form, "Are you and Naruto-kun alright?" Minato winced tiredly and took a weary step forward, placing the once again wailing baby into the cot at the side of the room.

"Naruto-kuns fine," he assured, easing the elderly man's worry some.

"And you?"

"I…" Minato lurched forward as a wave of pain overcame him, prompting the old man to catch him, "I'm not going to make it Hiruzen-san; I've lost too much blood." The old man opened his mouth to protest however quickly closed it, deeming it futile. Instead he helped the Minato to the chair behind the desk, resting him down gently.

"Minato-"

"What happened to Kushina-chan? Hiruzen." The blond haired man interrupted, his face suddenly riddled with concern.

Hiruzen lowered his gaze, "she didn't make it Minato-kun. There were unexpected complications with the birth and her body grew too weak. It couldn't take the strain." A heavy silence blanketed the pair as the cries of the baby stopped. Minato rested his head on the back of his chair and closed his eyes, a slow blink. When they reopened, the normally clear blue was wavering with unshed tears, "I'm sorry Minato-kun, there was nothing we could do." He closed his eyes once again as a single tear escaped and made its way down his cheek.

Wearily, he drew his gaze over to the cot, where his newly born son slept, "Hiruzen-san, if you don't mind, could you…" he raised one arm gesturing towards the cot. The old man nodded in response and moved to pick up the baby.

Hoisting him up from his bed, Hiruzen couldn't help but smile down at the young boy, he really did look like his father. Eyes not moving from the baby's form, Hiruzen made his way back over to the Minato, who already was starting look paler, and handed him the baby.

"Minato-kun… I know now's not the time but, what of the fruit?" The man didn't raise his gaze from the baby, but answered nonetheless.

"The fruit… I couldn't let a disaster such as this happen again," he smiled sadly and looked up at the old man, "in the wrong hands… the power of the Kyuubi is too great. The events of tonight bear witness to that."

"Minato what did you do?" Hiruzen questioned, slightly louder.

"I fed him the fruit." He answered, looking back down at the baby in his arms, "so that no one should use the power of the forbidden biju fruit for evil again."

"That's ridiculous! The strain! He's just a baby!" The old man argued, prompting Minato to laugh an empty laugh.

"You forget who his Mother is Hiruzen." He coughed loudly to the side before continuing, "The Uzumaki's have been guardians of this particular fruit for centuries. It is well known that they are of the few who possess a natural life force large enough to withhold such power."

"Still… too feed the most powerful of the forbidden Akuma no Mi to a child…"

"I know Hiruzen. I know." Minato cut off, a slight edge to his voice before his face took on a solemn expression as he looked up at his predecessor, "it wasn't an easy decision. In fact, it was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But I am the leader of this village, and as such have responsibilities. And unfortunately, those responsibilities transfer to Naruto-kun." The old man nodded his head in concession.

Minato looked down at the baby in his arms and smiled as tears once again threatened to fall.

"I guess this is goodbye Naruto-kun," he managed, his voice frail and quiet, "Your mother and I would've loved to get to know you a little better but I guess you're gonna have to go on without us," the tears brimming in his eyes slowly began to cascade down the man's face, "I'm so sorry Naruto-kun, I'm sorry we won't be able to be there, and I'm sorry to have placed this burden on you," He laughed chokingly, "Your mothers gonna kill me when she finds out what I've done," he took a moment to regain what little breath he had left, "Naruto-kun, life won't be easy. You'll face many hardships and pitfalls but I want you to remain strong, to grow strong and to love those that surround you. And whatever you set your mind to… I know you can do it, 'cause you're the son of the yellow flash and the red hot-blooded habanero," the old man smiled, his own tears forming in his eyes as he watched on, "I love you so much Naruto-kun, and i dare say your mother might just love you more..."

With that, the blond haired man closed his eyes as his head flopped down softly. Silence once again engulfed the room as neither baby nor man made a sound and the faint pitter patter of rain tapping against the window was all to be heard.

* * *

18 years later - Loguetown

"Man I'm bored, I thought this place was supposed to be some hotspot for excitement or somethin'" A teen groaned as he strolled down the streets of Loguetown. Said teen was relatively tall for his age. He had spiky blond hair that fell just short of his eyebrows at either side of his forehead and bright cerulean eyes. He wore a white t-shirt with a burnt orange swirl on the back and a trim on the end of the arms and bottom of the base of the same colour along with black trousers than fell short just before his ankles and sandals. A thin orange sash matching the colour of the swirl on his back was tied around his waist with a tanto tucked into the back diagonally. The tanto itself was relatively plain in its appearance. The handle was constructed of simple white strapping with the sheath made of an ornate, undecorated, pale wood. Despite his overall impressive appearance, his most distinctive feature was the three scar like marks etched into his cheeks, giving the appearance of whiskers.

The blond was currently winding his way through the shopping district of the town, with nothing particular to do. He had heard Loguetown was a meet up point for pirates who wanted to venture out onto the grand line so thought he'd give it a once over. After all, you never know what loose lips would bring.

Sighing to himself, he lazily turned a corner at random only to spin on his heel to avoid the figure that came racing by him.

Raising his eyebrow, the teen watched as the form paced into the crowd hold his straw hat to his head with one arm and waving the other above him in a brash attempt of an apology.

"Tsk, most exciting thing that's happened all day." He drawled to himself before continuing on his way only to stop mid-step.

Looking around him, he spotted a vendor at the side of the road selling newspapers.

"Oi ossan, you got any recent bounty posters?" The man behind the stand looked up and squinted.

"Huh? What's a kid like you want with bounty posters?" he said through rotten and missing teeth.

"Look, you got any or not?" the blond repeated, slightly irked at being called a kid.

"Yeah just got a batch in actually," he mumbled turning to reach behind him, not before casting the boy an odd look, "Here, bout ten in total. Some right whipper-snappers in there too! Some lookin' even younger than you!" he laughed heartily to himself and handed the boy the posters.

Flicking through them, the boy took time to look at each one closely, "The Tiny Tantrum… Dan the Cowboy… John Handy… Grog the Seducer? What the fuck?" he held said poster away from at a distance, scrunching his face slightly at the rough hairy form of the man sketched into the poster, "Who the hell is he seducing? Dogs?" The man gave another full bellied laugh.

"Like I said, some real whipper-snappers!" shaking his head, the blond went back to looking through the posters. Drawing to the end of the pile, he thought he'd been mistaken until he turned over the last poster, and a smile etched its way onto his face.

"Monkey D. Luffy, a.k.a. Strawhat Luffy, 30 million beli…" He unconsciously said aloud.

"Aye, that's one of the larger ones. Especially from a rookie from East Blue." He shook his head placing both hands on the counter of the stall, "Mark my words, he'll be a big one day," The boy looked up at the man.

"What makes you say that?" He frowned.

"He bears the name D. Same as old Gol D. Roger. Nothing good ever came from someone with that name I'll tell ya." The boy's eyes narrowed slightly before returning to normal.

"What do you know of the name D. ossan?"

"Not much," he shrugged, "just what they say."

"And what do they say?"

"They say that those who bear the name D. are born free, that they are destined to oppose the law and…" his tone darkened.

"And?"

"And that they are the enemies of God themselves!" he said with a hushed tone, a shadow darkening his face eliciting silence from the boy. Neither spoke a word as the sound of friendly chatter and people going about their day to day business engulfed the pair.

A quiet laugh which soon turned full-blown suddenly erupted from the boy, causing the man to look up in confusion, "Ah ossan! That really cracked me up!" He wiped away small tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes, "I know we're not exactly saints but calling us the enemy of God is a bit far dontcha think?"

"Huh?" He sighed dramatically, still chuckling quietly to himself.

"Ossan," he began amidst chuckles, "you mind if I keep this one?" he held up the poster in question.

"Wh-er, yeah… sure" the boy folded up the poster before placing it in his pocket and handing the man back the others.

"Thanks ossan!" Still chuckling the boy turned and made his way back down the street before stopping and turning to face the old man, "Oh and by the way ossan," he placed one hand on his hip, the other forming a thumbs up directed at the man, a foxy grin adorning his face, "The names Uzumaki D. Naruto, and dontcha forget it!" he then walked off chuckling, repeating the phrase 'Enemies of God' as fuel for his laughter, leaving a very confused vendor in his wake.

* * *

A little later in Loguetown

"Hmm blue or green?" a voice questioned itself amongst rows of clothing, "Heh, who am I kidding I look great in blue!" it confirmed, before throwing a side a green bikini top in exchange for a blue stripped one.

Orange tresses bounced as the girl merrily made her way to the counter of the store in order to purchase said item. Exchanging half-hearted pleasantries with the lady at the till she stuffed the top into one of her many shopping bags before exiting the shop.

So far her trip to the last island before the grand line had proven to be fruit full to say the least.

Weaving her way through the crowd, humming to herself quietly, she continued her shopping spree eagerly. Spotting another store which advertised sale signs outside she entered, never one to turn down a bargain.

Stepping through the doors gave the shop a once over, immediately noticing it wasn't just a female store, not that that mattered however. Making her way over to the female section she started browsing the trousers and shorts.

After a few minutes of searching she gave a huff of annoyance as she was yet to find anything worth its salt. Once again looking over the store she spotted a figure in the corner of the men's section, scratching his head looking at the jackets. Grinning to herself, she made her way over to form.

"Need a hand?" She chirped, as the boy turned to face her causing blue to meet brown, as both counterparts inhaled quickly and sharply before regaining composure.

"Huh? Oh um sure I guess" the boy answered, slightly shocked by the girl's confidence.

"Hmm," she rose her hand to her chin in contemplation, "You looking for something with more style or practicality?" the boy looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well both would be nice," he laughed shortly as the girl rolled her eyes and began her hunt for a suitable item of clothing. Picking out two she held them in front her inspecting them.

"How bout these?" the blond leaned closely to look at the two items. The first was a black zip up jacket with a hood. It had a red trim along the bottom and going up the sides of the arms.

"Good number of pockets," the blond commented, "when open the manoeuvrability should be good," the sudden sound of metal slicing air shocked the girl slightly as she saw a strangely shaped knife appear in the boy's hand.

"What're you doin!?" the boy didn't answer, instead choosing to stab the jacket lightly with the knife as if testing its durability, only to be hit on the head by the girl, "you baka! What do you think you're doing? You can't just go around slashing clothing!" an irate tick mark had forehead.

"I was just testing its durability jeez, it's no use to me if it tears every time it gets nicked slightly." He huffed slightly annoyed at being hit by the girl, "its fine anyway it worked out" the boy then moved his gaze to the next item of clothing. Unlike the last one it was all white with small licks of red flames at the bottom. Again it was long sleeved with a hood, the hood itself had a slight point. The Jacket or hoodie had a main pocket at the bottom with two holes at either side.

"Hmm looks about as durable as the other, and I like the design and the hood. Manoeuvrability seems good also, but it doesn't like it has as many pockets for storage… Ah this is tough!" he grabbed his hair in mock anguish prompting the girl to giggle slightly.

"Why don't you just get both?" the boy down at the girl, before a wide grin bloomed on his face.

"Great idea! Erm… " he looked at the girl expectantly.

"Oh it's Nami" She beamed and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you Nami, the names Naruto." He took her hand and shook it gently.

"Now, let's get those paid for!"

The two then made their way to the till. Handing the items, the newly acquainted pair made idle small talk as the lady behind the till packed the items.

"Hai, that'll be 500 beli," she said perkily, causing Naruto's face to sour immediately.

"500! I don't have that kinda money!" he cried as he reached into his pocket and brought out a small frog wallet causing Nami to cover her mouth, lest she laugh at the boy's taste in wallets, "I've got 200…" he said bring out a few golden coins. He then looked up at Nami, eyes wide and shining with a slight tilt to his head, "Nami! Can you lend me the rest please! I swear I'll pay you back, I've got the rest on my boat!" He pleaded.

The girl was shocked momentarily. Not only had she just noticed how alluringly cute the boy was, especially with those whisker-like marks, but she found herself actually wanting to lend him the money!

"Er I dunno if-"

"Please Nami-chan!" he pleased both hands in front of him, palms pressed together as if in prayer. Gazing into those wavering blue eyes, a small blush formed on her cheeks and she found herself at breaking point.

"Fine, but you better pay me back!" she sighed, ' _it's only cause you're cute too'_ she added mentally before forking out the extra 300 beli and handing it over to the till lady, "here…" she huffed, clearly not impressed with handing over her precious money.

"Thanks for your patronage!" the lady chirped in response, handing Nami back her change.

Mumbling to herself something about annoying blonds, she went about putting her change back in her pouch head down in concentration, "Alright, you better take me back to you boat Naruto so I can get my money back,"

"Er ma'am?" the cashier perked up, a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah what?" Nami answered, looking up from reattaching her money pouch.

"You're boyfriends gone…" Nami's eyes widened as she frantically looked around the shop, and just like the lady said, the blond was nowhere to be seen.

A dark shadow covered her eyes as an ominous aura engulfed the shop, "You better run far Naruto, cause when I find you, you're dead!"

* * *

A small empty street – Loguetown

"Man I hope Nami-chan isn't too angry at me!" A certain blond mused hands once again resting on the back of his head, his new jackets sealed and placed in his pouch, "oh well I'm sure she's fine."

The boy paused momentarily as he noticed the absence of a presence he'd long grown accustom to, "Huh… I wonder where Kuramas gone off too?" he looked around him lazily before shrugging to himself, "Meh I'm sure he's okay, bastard is always getting into trouble."

Naruto continued his leisurely stroll back into the commercial district of the town admiring the sights and smiled inwardly to himself at the sight of kids playing and laughing as they ran back and forth playing their games.

Suddenly the shout of people drew his eyes form the peacefully placing children to see a crowd that had gathered in the middle of the street. Smiling to himself, he approached the gathering and stopped at the back, one hand in his pocket, the other on the handle of his tanto. Not moving, he observed the proceedings.

"Oi you're gonna pay for locking our boys up!" one of the thugs shouted, his appearance overall lacking. Standing lanky and tall, his tongue hung out slightly as he spoke through rotten teeth. He wore a back vest decorated with multi-coloured patterns and an armlet on his bicep. The other goon wore a v-necked vest with blue lines running throughout it and his hair was tied into two braids either side of his head.

"Yeah! Boss is gonna be real happy when we bring you back in pieces." The other goon remarked a nasty grin plastered on his face. For the first time Naruto noticed the girl who was the subject of their abuse. She stood small in comparison to the two thugs and wore a pale yellow Hawaiian shirt with pink flowers on it and plain blue jeans. In her hands she clutched a wrapped long object to her chest.

Naruto immediately clocked the object as a sword and halted his advances to help the girl. Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed a green haired boy with two swords strapped to his waist wearing a white v neck shirt and dark green trousers. Noticing the man's hand on his sword reassured the blond.

"Please, I don't wish to fight you" the girl said timidly, taking a step back.

"Well that's too bad babe!" the thug with the rotten teeth jeered, "our boss is gonna thank us when we bring him your head!" the girl sighed and relaxed her guard.

"Very well…" without warning, the two men charged the girl, their swords raised above the heads, smirks upon their faces, assured of victory.

In a swift motion, the girl undid the string revealing the handle of the sword. Placing her hand on the sword, she drew the blade as she moved between the two thugs dodging their strikes in the process. A she did so, dirt kicked up concealing the trio's movement.

When it cleared it revealed the girl with her back facing the thugs in a finishing pose. Slowly the two goons who also had their backs facing the girl collapsed to the ground.

Whistling to himself in an impressed manner, Naruto admired the girl's form. He also noticed at the side of clearing the green haired man looked tensed to move and also had a stunned expression on his face.

The crowd broke out into cheers of praise as a wry smile broke out onto Naruto's face. The smile vanished however when the girl stood up from her elegant pose only to lose balance and fall flat on her face causing the blond to sweatdrop. Looking down at the clearing in front of him he realised the girl's glasses had bounced his direction.

Easing through the gap in the crowd he moved to pick the glasses up. As his hand was about to scoop them up them however, the sound of crunching glassreached his ears. Looking up he saw the boot of the green haired man was planted on the pair of glasses as he stared in shock at the face of the girl who stared back in equal shock.

"Eh! Was that my glasses!?" the man snapped out of his stupor and took on a pained expression.

"Oh Urm yeah?" he managed as he straightened his back. Naruto on the other hand leant back, content to watch proceedings.

"Those were expensive you know!" Naruto had to admit the girl looked cute when she was angry, her short raven hair fell down in tresses to her scrunched brow, "Please replace them!" the man stuttered in response before hanging his head in shame.

"Fine." He finally conceded and the girl huffed as she stood up. Naruto considered introducing himself however decided against it and chose instead to watch as the pair conversed and made their way into a nearby weapons shop.

"Hmm I feel like I'll be seeing that guy again…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he watched the green mop of hair vanish amongst the weapons.

* * *

The square where Gold D. Roger was executed – Loguetown

A small creature watched curiously as the teen who currently knelt in the stocks on the execution professed that he was to be the next Pirate King before a sword wielded by a rather eccentrically dressed pirate came down on his neck, the wide grin plastered on the teen's face never wavering.

Just before the sword connected however, a colossal bolt of lightning struck the platform, electrocuting the clown dressed pirate, and setting the platform alight destroying it. The crowd watched on in awe as the teen's hat floated safely to ground, only to be picked up again by the boy himself.

The creature considered the scene for a moment, watching as the marines surrounding the clearing tensed in order to make a move on the pirates and the strange teen's crew reunited with their apparent captain and headed for the exit.

"Hmm Narutos probably gonna want to hear about this." It commented aloud in a surprisingly deep voice for its size, before vanishing into the shadows of the ledge it was perched on.

* * *

20 minutes later – just of the coast of Loguetown

"Few that was close! I thought that smoker had me!" A teen shouted as he sat on the figurehead of the ship, "I wonder who that guy was though?"

"That doesn't matter now!" Another, more feminine voice butted in, "right now we just need to focus on getting outta here!" the orange haired girl proceeded to focus on the map currently stretched across her lap

"Meh its fine," Another gruff voice commented, belonging to a green-haired member of the crew, "We got a head start. I doubt those marines would be able to catch us now."

"It doesn't matter if they do! With the great captain Usopp on your side they don't stand a chance." Declared a rather long nosed teen. his curly black hair trapped under the bandana on his forehead as he stretched his arm in the air as if giving some grand declaration.

"Heh! You're funny Usopp!" the teen on the figurehead once again commented.

"Luffy! Usopp! This is no time for jokes!" the orange haired girl once again scolded, "And Sanji! Stop lazing about smoking and get to work!"

"Hai! Nami-swann~" The newly named man cooed raising is curled eyebrows and clasping his hands together.

"Oi oi oi oi! This is no joke! I the great Usopp have a whole fleet at my command!" Usopp defending crsssing both arms over his chest.

"Sugoi! How many men do you have?" A new voice interrupted proceedings, hailing from the crow's nest. Immediately, all five crew members were alert as their heads snapped towards the unfamiliar voice. Blinded by the sun they could only just make out the vague outline of a person as the form hopped over the railing of the crow's nest and fell to the ground, landing in a controlled crouch.

"You!" Nami shouted, holding a pointed finger out towards the boy.

"Huh? Nami you know this guy?" said a curious Luffy who had just appeared at the orange-haired girl's side.

"I sure do! I splashed out a whole 300 beli for this guy and he pulled a runner before he paid me back!" both the girl's hands now rested on her waist as she frowned at the blond in front of her. The boy in question merely rubbed the back of his head sheepishly adopting a squinted-eyed grin one could only dub as being 'fox-like'

"I suppose I should introduce myself!" he said loudly, the grin never leaving his face. He pointed a thumb to his chest while his other hand moved to his waist, "the name's Uzumaki D. Naruto, and I'm gonna bring peace to the world!" He gave the five crew members the peace sign, "Believe it!"

* * *

Yo thanks for reading. Atm i'm thinking this'll just be a one shot unless it does well cause i just wanted to write the thing and get it out of my head. but review and favourite and follow if you dig it n all that jazz nonetheless.


	2. A New Adventure

Yo decided to continue the story due to the positive comments (thanks for them btw, really appreciate it), this chapter is pretty long. I planned on writing more but decided to break it up into two instead.

P.s. you may have noticed that I changed the title, this is because I decided that Naruto isn't going to join the strawhats but have his own crew which will be made of Naruto characters (I've already got a plan for this) . He'll still be with the strawhats at big events but will have segments by himself also.

Enjoy

* * *

"Nani!" was the collective cry that echoed across the Going Merry as 5 confused expressions stared at the grinning blond in front of them.

The blond let out a small chuckle before looking around him appraisingly, "Man but this is one neat ship you got here." He commented absentmindedly.

"Wait a second, what the hell are you doing here?" Nami shouted, seemingly snapping out of her initial shock. Her statement was met with a chorus of nods across the crew members.

"Huh? Isn't it obvious? I'm joining you on your trip?" Naruto replied as if it was the clearest thing in the world.

"Oi oi oi we're not on a trip! We're searching for the One Piece!" Luffy suddenly interrupted with an indignant shout.

"… but to look for it, you gotta go on a trip right?" The blond tilted his head in mock confusion.

"Not a trip! A hunt!" Luffy shouted once again causing Naruto to smile cheekily.

"Well I guess I'm gonna take a trip with you on your hunt then!" Luffy dead panned for a second before adopting an oblivious grin.

"Sure, sounds good!" he said with a thumbs up.

"No not good baka," Nami interjected as she punched Luffy over the head causing him to face-plant, "we don't know anything about this guy!"

"Yeah you do. I just said my name's Uzumaki D. Naruto and I'm gonna achieve world peace. What more do you need to know?" Nami's hair shadowed her eyes as her rage grew.

"Anything is better than that you fool!" she retorted the tick mark on her forehead throbbing.

"Errr okay." Naruto then took a step back and faced the whole grew before bowing half-heartedly, "As I said, twice, the name's Uzumaki D. Naruto, I'm a shinobi of Konohagakure. I like ramen, training, my precious people, Kurama and anyone who treats people equally, I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook instant ramen, doing stuff I don't wanna do, thieves, murderers, rapists etc. etc… oh and vegetables!" he then promptly shuddered scrunching his face slightly, leaving the five crew members in an absent silence before Luffy broke it. Loudly.

"You're a ninja!? SUGOI!" the teen then began to bombard Naruto with a torrent of questions. Mostly regarding whether he could perform different techniques or not. Usopp had also stepped up close to Naruto alongside Luffy with his own bombardment of questions. Meanwhile Zoro suddenly had a dangerous smirk on his face and was most likely hoping the blond was strong.

Nami and Sanji on the other hand where watching the whole ordeal with a deadpan expression.

"Um I hate to be a buzzkill," Naruto started lazily raising a hand, "but do you guys have a plan? Cause there are a lot of Marines chasing you guys and this storm's kinda bad."

"Oh yeah I forgot! We're going to the grandline!" Nami suddenly interjected, before turning and giving Naruto the stink eye, "We're gonna have to forget about you for the meanwhile."

"Great! We got another member of the crew right before the grandline." Luffy shouted followed by a hearty laugh.

"Oi oi oi I never said I was gonna join your crew…" Naruto argued lazily, but fell on deaf ears.

"Look that's the lighthouse marking the entrance to the grandline!" Nami shouted pointing at the lone structure on a small island.

"Well then I guess this calls for a celebration." Sanji said with a grin as he brought out a barrel.

"I don't think this is the time to be celebrating." Usopp whined, his teeth chattering, only to be ignored. Sanji placed the barrel in the middle of the group and placed his foot up on the top with a tap.

"To find all blue." He smirked, as the rest of the crew minus Naruto who was still gazing slightly confused at the scene and Usopp who was crying and moaning something about not wanting to die young.

"To become the Pirate King." Luffy added as he put his foot up also.

"To be the greatest swordsman… " Zoro smirked following suit.

"To draw a map of the world" Nami smiled genuinely, putting her foot up.

"T… T-t-to become a brave warrior of the seas!" Usopp stuttered before taping his foot on the barrel. All five of the crew members suddenly looked at the blond who simply stood there watching the pirates before he shrugged with a grin of his own.

"Heh what the hell," He walked up to the now ring of pirates and put his foot up also, "To bring peace to world." The sextet the smashed their feet down onto the barrel, destroying it with a crunch.

"To the grandline." Luffy cheered as the crew followed his lead, while Naruto smiled up at them.

* * *

Later – near the reversal mountain.

The crew plus Naruto were all currently sat in the kitchen of the going Merry discussing how they were going to get the grand line.

"Wait so the passageway to the grand line is via a mountain?" Asked Naruto with a single eyebrow raised.

"Exactly, it's called Reversal Mountain and it's said that the ocean actually flows up it!" Naruto grinned in response.

"Cool."

"Oi Naruto." Sanji suddenly cut in, stood leant against the counter of kitchen, "I've been thinking, who's Kurama?" Naruto drew his gaze to the cook with a confused expression on his face, "I noticed you singled him out from your 'precious people', so who is he?"

"Oh him, he's just a grumpy old furball. He's been my… companion of sorts for a while now. Nearly as long as I can remember in fact." Naruto replied nonchalantly as he nurtured the hot chocolate in front of him.

"Well where is he?" Usopp suddenly commented puzzled.

Naruto shrugged absentmindedly, before waving his hand dismissively, "Meh he's probably around somewhere, lazy fox is probably napping."

"What do you mean he's around here? He's on the ship?" Nami butted in, looking up from her map.

"Yeah, I can sense him. When you're with someone for most of your life you get to know their unique presence, you know?"

"No not really…" the orange haired girl sweatdropped, "well can we meet him?"

"Um yeah sure if you want," Naruto shrugged, "Oi Kurama come say hi!" the blond said with a slightly raised voice.

The strawhat pirates waited expectantly, looking around as if awaiting some grand entrance.

Seconds went by as the nothing happened and Naruto's ire grew, "Kurama you bastard don't leave me hangin'!"

Still nothing happened as the crew sweatdropped, "Naruto you sure your… companion isn't, you know, imaginary." Nami asked with a sly grin as the rest of the pirates began to giggle quietly.

Naruto had started to mutter curses under his breath, "Tsk, that's it." He said finally before running through a sequence of hand signs too fast for the strawhats to follow, "Summoning justu!" he shouted at the end after biting his thumb and slamming his palm down onto the floor.

There was a small plume of smoke as an odd web of an intricate design spread out across the floor of the cabin.

"Naruto you insufferable fool I thought I told you not to summon me!" a deep voice said from within the smoke as the 5 crew members leaned in to get a better view of the blond's companion.

"Well I would've had to if you'd of just shown up when I called." Naruto replied with a shake of the fist.

"I'm not your servant ningen I can do as I please," the voice replied.

"Well why the hell do you follow me round then!" Naruto retorted.

As the two continued to argue the smoke cleared and the five crew members jaw dropped at the sight of a large fox that stood around mid-thigh height with dark orange borderline red fur and two tails swaying behind it. The fox was sat on the floor, and angry snarl on its face, its mouth moving in unison with the voice.

"Nani! T-that fox is talking!" cried Ussop pointing an accusatory finger.

"Sugoi~! A talking fox!" Luffy shouted in contrast as he jumped forward to examine the creature.

The three others opted to stand back and watch the proceedings as they steadily broke out of their stupors. Meanwhile, Kurama was getting irritated by Luffy's pestering.

"Naruto, I'm starting to regret informing you of this boy, he's even more of a fool than you are" He said with a growl as he swatted away Luffy's hand with his tail, "Will you stop trying to pet me, I'm not some common house pet I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the Biju!"

"But you've got two tails?" Luffy replied innocently causing the fox to snarl and Naruto to sigh.

"I know that you whelp but that's my title!"

"But shouldn't your title be the Nibi no Kitsune then?"

"What? No!" The fox let out another deep growl before turning to the blond, "Naruto I've said my greetings so I'm going for a nap," Kurama then hopped onto the table before his form shimmered slightly then disappeared into thin air, "And will you please explain to this idiot just what I am?" his voice still rang out before the faint sound of paws padding on the ground signalled his exit.

"That was so cool! He just disappeared!" Luffy shouted again.

"Yeah he does that." Naruto said tiredly, "ugh I thinking I'm getting a headache."

"Um Naruto-san what did he mean when he said 'what I am', he's just a fox right?" Nami interjected prompty Naruto to sit back down at the table.

"No not quite." He ran a hand through his hair, "I suppose I could explain it you… but it's so long…" he drawled before Nami lost her temper and slapped him over the back of the head.

"Just tell us you lazy baka!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, suddenly plagued by an odd sense of déjà vu.

"Alright alright fucking hell, you're even worse than Sakura-chan," Naruto then sighed ignoring the barely contained anger on Nami's face, "I suppose I should begin at the start then, wouldn't make much sense otherwise… I assume you're all aware of devil fruits?" Naruto asked looking around at the Pirates.

"Yep! I'm a rubber man!" Luffy announced before holding out his arm and stretching his bicep downwards before letting hit wobble and bounce back into place like an elastic band.

"Right… well a long time ago in the continent I'm from there existed nine tailed beasts. They were creatures made of pure energy, the physical manifestation of it in fact. The strength of each of the beasts determined by the number of tails it had, one being the weakest and nine the strongest." Naruto glanced over at the pirates to see if they were all following. Luffy was the only one looking a little worse for wear but the blond continued anyway, "These nine beasts all originally came from the Juubi, a true monster in every sense of the word. The juubi was beaten by a man called the Sage of Six Paths, who sealed the beast within himself making him the first ever Jinchuriki and is also known to be the father of Ninjutsu."

"He sealed it? Inside himself? How is that even possible?" Nami questioned, paying rapt attention.

"And what's a jinchuriki?" Sanji added also.

"It's a ninja thing, and I can't be bothered to explain," Naruto addressed Nami with another dismissive wave of the hand causing the girl to frown before answering Sanji's question, "A Jinchuriki is one who has a tailed beasts sealed within them. It stands for 'the power of human sacrifice'." Naruto leant back and looked at the ceiling, "Anyway, with the Juubi sealed the continent was safe, however when the sage grew old, he started to worry that upon his death the Juubi would be released so he split the Juubi's power into nine parts and created physical constructs for them to reside in, along with a unique consciousness. And thus the nine tailed beasts were born." Naruto took a sip of his drink before continuing, "Well, that was all years ago, I'm talkin' centuries. There's a lot of history between then and now but again I'm too tired to explain."

"You're the worst story teller ever," Ussop deadpanned.

"You suck," added Zoro.

"Any hoo," Naruto began again shrugging of the comments, "Somewhere along the line, the Sea Devil came about and started creating the devil fruits. And somehow or another he managed to find the elemental nations and decided that the tailed beasts would be a threat so sealed their power into nine devil fruits and scattered them across the world, creating what are now known as the nine forbidden devil fruits. Luckily however, our village, who at the time was guarded by the Kyuubi managed to fight the Sea Devil for possession of the Kyu Kyu fruit and so our village has maintained possession of and protected the fruit for generations."

"I don't understand, where does Kurama come into this?" Nami asked, still absorbing all the information.

"Ah you see, the Sea Devil, for all his power underestimated how strong the Kyuubi would be, after all it alone takes up nearly half of the Juubi's power, much stronger than its other siblings, and so he was unable to seal the whole the its power into the fruit. And so, the Kyuubi's consciousness and leftover energy formed Kurama." Naruto finished with a grin, "Man that took forever," he sighed dramatically ignoring the dumbstruck faces of the strawhats.

"Wait are you saying that that little fox used to be one of the most powerful beasts in the world and is like a billion years old?" Luffy asked slightly in awe.

"Well not a billion but yeah, damn fox is ancient." Naruto eyed the jaw-slacked crew, "Although technically speaking he's not actually a fox, just a dense furball of energy that just happened to take the form a fox, like a spirit I guess…" Naruto laughed sheepishly, "Kinda a lot to take in huh?"

Luffy's face suddenly turned sour, "I wanna be excited but all this information is making my head hurt."

"Sounds like a weird fairy tale to me…" Nami commented as the others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah well there's lot of weirder stuff in the world, trust me," The boy laughed shortly, "Anyways, now that's all said and done, I'm gonna hit the hay." Naruto announced as he jumped out of his seat, "Wake me up when something interesting happens." He then promptly excited the kitchen leaving a very confused and frazzled strawhat crew in his wake.

* * *

1 hour later

Naruto was currently in one of the cabins, he didn't check which when he left the kitchen, and was sound asleep. Well he was sound asleep anyway before he heard the screams and shouts of his new companions.

Frowning to himself in his sleep, he rolled over trying to block out the noise, and succeeded in doing so until the whole ship was lurched upwards causing him to fall out of his bed.

"Alright that's it!" The blond shouted as he got up and barged out of the room, "What the hell's going on…" Naruto's voice trailed off as he took in the sight in front of him.

The Going Merry was currently sat on top of the head of Sea King and was further surrounded by another dozen Sea Kings all surrounding the small ship.

"Holy shit!" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes lit up with glee, "these things are huge!"

"It's a nest of Sea Kings…" Naruto's eyes drifted to a weeping Nami who was hugging the mast as if her life depended on it. Meanwhile Sanji, Luffy and Zoro were stood at the side of the boat, oars in hand.

"As soon as this Sea King dives under we're gonna have to paddle like crazy to get outta here!" Luffy shouted a fierce expression on his face as the other two roared in response.

"Where's Usopp?" Naruto asked once again looking at Nami.

The girl didn't reply, instead simply pointing up. Naruto followed the point and spotted the long-nosed sniper weeping whilst clinging to the mast just below the crow's nest.

"Ehh Usopp sure is fidgety." Naruto commented.

"We're hundred metres in the air on top of a Sea King how are you not fidgety!?" Nami screamed back at the blond.

Before the blond could respond however, a large gush of air suddenly roared towards the Sea King, sounding something like a large intake of air.

A second passed in which nothing happened before something clicked for Naruto, "Fuck, surely this Sea King isn't going to sne-"

Naruto was cut off as a large boom sounded as the Sea Kings head jerked forwards before rocking it back sending the Going Merry sailing through the air.

A collective scream sounded from the crew minus Naruto as the ship flew. A sudden shout from Luffy however alerted the pirates as Naruto spotted Usopp peel peal of the mast and fly into what was seemingly a gigantic frog.

Luckily however Luffy managed to grab the sniper out of the air just before he was about to fall into the amphibians mouth.

The ship flew for another few moments before it landed with a great crash of waves as the rain once again began to fall and lightening racked the sky.

All members of the crew were left spread out on the floor panting while Naruto simply stood watching them all.

"Oi are you guys okay?" He asked as he crouched down next to Luffy and began poking him with a stick. Don't ask where he got the stick. Just go with it.

The captain moaned in reply before saying something illegible.

"Ah I got it!" Nami suddenly perked up as the heads of the pirates tiredly swivelled to the navigator.

"What's up Nami-chan?" the girl glanced the blond's way, a faint blush on her cheeks at the form of address before answering.

"I figured out how to get to the grand line!" She answered with a grin.

Zoro who was sat leaning against the mast perked up at this, "Oh, and how are we gonna get there?"

"We have to actually go up the mountain!" Zoro sighed in response.

"Tsk, you still going on about that mountain?" he scoffed causing the girl to glare his way.

Around about this time the rest of the crew had begun to recover and started to pay attention to Nami's explanations.

"So how does this mountain work then?" Zoro countered as he stood up.

"Well it works due to the strength and direction of the currents of the four seas," Nami held up her finger in full lecture mode, "Each current is directed towards the mountain and because of their strength they're forced up the waterways of the mountain and then merge at the top, leading to the grand line."

"So it's a magic mountain." Luffy announced as he knocked the bottom of his closed fist into his open palm.

"Ugh I don't know why I bothered…" Nami sighed dejectedly.

"You were great Nami-swan~!" Cried Sanji, causing Naruto to wince slightly.

"So how do we find the waterway?" asked the Uzumaki.

"That's the thing," the orange haired girl replied turned to face the blond, "We don't have to, and since we're already in the currents all we have to do is direct the ship so we don't crash along the way."

"Heh cool," Naruto replied as he reached into his pocket and took out a scroll, unravelling it with a flare he made the ram sign and suddenly with a small plume of smoke the white jacket that he'd Nami had bought him was in his hand.

"Wha? Hey how'd you do that?" Asked Luffy, as he stared eyes wide at the blond.

Naruto didn't reply straight away instead he pulled the jacket on over his head and sighed at the sudden warmth it brought. Noticing Luffy, and the others' were still waiting a reply he simply pointed to himself cheekily, "Ninja." He said before placing scroll back in his pocket.

"Sugoi~ ninjas are awesome!" Naruto rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless, enjoying the praise.

"Naruto you thief you still have to pay me back for those!" Nami suddenly shouted pointing her finger at the boy a fierce look on her face.

"Oi bit rich calling a thief don't you think?" Naruto replied coolly.

"W-what do you mean?" the navigator managed, noticeably less angry as she stuttered slightly.

"Well it's just that when you've been travelling a while, and you have a certain… skill set, you tend to pick up on things along the way you know?" Naruto grinned, "Like for example, an orange-haired thief infamous for befriending then stealing from pirates."

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Nami retained her composure huffing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak however was cut off by a shout from Luffy.

"I see the magic mountain!" the boy was stood at the side of the ship his hands clench on the rail.

"Look at that huge shadow!" Came another cry from Usopp.

All heads turned as through mist a dark shadow came into sights, stretching up higher than the pirates could see. As they sailed closer however the fog cleared and a rocky face presented itself.

"That must be the red line!" Nami announced slightly in awe before she turned on her he'll and looked at her captain, "Luffy, 'cause the red line is a winter island we'll get dragged under if we don't directly hit the waterway, we need someone on the rudder so we don't capsize."

"Sanji, Usopp! Grab the rudder!" Came a shout in response from Luffy, followed by a collective 'leave it to us' from the two.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Nami and Zoro were currently stood watching the approaching land mass in amazement. The blond let out a soft whistle.

"That… that sure is something," Nami absentmindedly nodded in agreement, while Zoro got out some binoculars.

"No way…" The swordsman started, "The seas actually flowing up the mountain." He said in shock.

Suddenly however the ship lurched to the left as the leaver used to control the rudder snapped sending Usopp and Sanji flying back.

"Shit the rudder snapped!" Luffy shouted gritting his teeth as the side of one of the archways leading into the waterway lay directly in the vessels path.

"Wah! We're gonna crash!" Nami cried as tears began to fall.

Acting quickly, Luffy rushed to the front of the ship with a war cry as Zoro grabbed the strawhat from off his head.

"Gomu Gomu no," the boy jumped off the side of the boat between it and the archway, "Balloon!" he shouted before he took a large breath of air and swelled up into a round balloon-like shape.

As the ship collided with wall an inflated Luffy acted as a life buoy and bounced the ship away from the archway.

"Luffy grab my hand!" Zoro shouted as the vessel began to sail up the waterway leaving the captain falling to the sea.

With single stretch of the arm, Luffy managed to grab Zoro's offered hand as the swordsman catapulted Luffy back onto the ship who then landed with a crash into Zoro.

"Ah we're saved!" Nami cried, her face washed with a relief, while Sanji and Usopp hugged, equally as relieved.

The ship was then thrusted up the waterway under the archways at the entrance of the mountain as the currents took the boat.

"We did it!" Luffy said with glee as he raised a single fist from his still prone position on the floor.

As the Going Merry began to reach the top of the mountain all members aboard of ship were now on the forward deck cheering. With a final lurch, the boat was sent flying into the air as it reached the peak of the mountain where the currents from the four oceans meet.

Like going over a ramp the boat tilted forwards slightly before landing on the other side and speeding down the other side of the waterway.

"There it is! The grand line!" Luffy shouted as he leant over the rails of the forward deck, one hand on his hat.

The Going Merry continued to speed down the current when, in what seemed to be a large black wall appeared through the mist and spray from the water. A deep wailing reached the crews' ears as the ship grew closer.

"Wh-what's that?" asked Nami.

"It looks like a mountain!" Added Luffy with a grin.

"Yeah guys, a think that's a whale!" Naruto said with a grin of his own. This trip was really starting to pay off for the blond, first gigantic sea monsters now a whale the size of an island.

"Sanji, Usopp slow the ship down we're gonna crash into it the thing!" Nami ordered. Immediately the two rushed to the now snapped rudder leaver.

"It's snapped! We're not gonna slow down quick enough!" Sanji shouted as him and Usopp desperately pulled on what was left of the rudder.

"Ah I've got an idea!" Luffy suddenly announced as he ran off below deck.

"Heh that can't be good." Naruto laughed as Nami's face paled.

The ship continued to head towards the whale as it started to slow down somewhat but nowhere near enough. Just before the ship was about to collide with the giant mammal however a large boom sounded as a small waft of smoke wandered up from the front of the Going Merry.

"Please don't tell me that was the canon." Nami cried as Naruto burst out laughing.

"That idiot just fired a canon at the whale!" he exclaimed amidst his laughter.

Despite their exclamations the ship did in fact slow down. However not quite enough.

At an almost painfully slow pace the Going Merry crept towards the whale until it crashed into it snapping the figurehead and causing it to fly onto the forward deck, narrowly missing Nami who managed to duck at the last second.

"I… I just almost died…" She said, staring down at her hands in shock.

While Nami was suffering a near death crisis, Sanji, Usopp and Zoro were celebrating not dying. Again.

"AH MY SPECIAL SEAT" A sudden enraged shout came from Luffy as he re-emerged on the deck, "That whale broke my special seat!"

"Alright calm down Luffy, you can always fix it." Naruto consoled as Zoro and Sanji began paddling like mad in order to escape the massive whale.

The crew had managed to paddle around to where the whale's eye sat staring blankly.

"Take this you stupid whale," Luffy suddenly reared back his fist, "Gomu Gomu no, " he then shot his arm forward, "Pistol!"

The punch hit the whale in the centre of its pupil and for a moment nothing happened. Well except from the wails of exasperation from the rest of the crew except for Naruto and Zoro, the latter laughing and the former simply watching with a frown.

Suddenly however a large deep screech sounded emanating from the whale forcing the crew to wince and hold their hands over their ears. The whale then opened its gigantic mouth lowering its lower jaw into the ocean creating a suction of water into its mouth.

Unable to withstand the force of the pull, the Going Merry was drawn into whale.

"Like hell am I gonna be eaten by a whale!" Naruto shouted, the first to recover from the whale's screech. He then crouched low bending his knees and then was seemingly gone. A second later, a small boom sounded as the deck of the ship cracked slightly where the blond was once standing.

"Ah me too, I still gotta pay this whale back for breaking my seat!" Luffy suddenly shouted next as he stretched his hand up to the upper jaw of the whale and launched himself on top of the mammal.

As the rubber boy landed on top of the whale, he noticed Naruto was already there looking around him with a frown on his face. The whale then shut its mouth, causing Luffy to stumble slightly while Naruto seemed stuck in place.

"My crews been eaten!" He shouted after a second hold his hands to his head.

"Calm down they're still alive, I can sense them…" Naruto replied, before giving the whale's back cautious stamp, "Weird though… feels kinda hollow for a living animal."

"Look, an entrance!" Luffy suddenly said, pointing to what seemed like a small hatch in the middle of the whale's back.

Naruto followed Luffy's finger at gazed, eyes narrowed slightly as he looked upon the small metal door nailed into the whale's back, "So there is…" He then grinned, "This just got even more interesting!"

"Oi Naruto hurry up! We gotta get my nakama back!" the blond snapped out of his temporary stupor to notice Luffy had already reached the hatch and was half submerged into it.

"Hn!" he smiled in glee before following after the boy, " _I can tell things are gonna be a lot of fun from now on,_ "

* * *

Within the whale

"What the hell is this place? And why is there an island in a whale!" Cried an exasperated Usopp who was mentally drained after his fourth near death experience of the day.

"I'm not sure but it looks like someone's living here." Sanji commented as he lit a cigarette and took a long drag.

The Strawhats were currently in what seemed like a small ocean with clouds dotting the blue sky, however on upon closer inspection it was clear that the sky was actually a ceiling that had been painted to look so. In the middle was a small island with a house, a palm tree and a deck chair with a beach umbrella standing over it.

The crew didn't have a seconds rest however as out from the water came a giant squid that must have been eaten by the whale. As squid came charging towards the boat Nami and Usopp started wailing and clutched each other while Zoro place a hand on one of his swords and Sanji bent one leg leaving his toes touching the floor.

Before the squid reached them, three large harpoons speared the creature causing it to crash just short of the Going Merry.

The ropes of the harpoon lead into the doorway of the house on the island and steadily the squid was dragged back away from the ship.

"Tsk, is someone living there?" Zoro asked, his hand still on his sword.

"Whoever it is they must be pretty strong if they're capable of dragging back that squid," Sanji commented as he squinted trying to make out the figure in the doorway.

Slowly as the squid was pulled up onto the edge of the island the form of a person emerged.

"What? A flower?" Usopp queried, still shaking slightly.

The form then came into the light revealing an old man wearing an exotic flowery headdress stemming from the back of his head. He wore a patterned Hawaiian shirt with an array of bracelets on his left arm and a large scar on the bicep.

"Huh? It's just an old man!" Usopp said, recovering from his shock.

The old man locked eyes with the crew for a few moments and they tensed expecting him to saying something however the man simply made his way to a deck chair at the front of the island under a beach umbrella and sat down opening up a newspaper as if nothing was array.

"Don't ignore us!" Shouted Sanji, as the man finally recognized their presence again.

"You should leave before someone gets hurt…" he said ominously, looking at the ship out of the corner of his eyes.

Sanji smirked in response, "Oh yeah, and who's that gonna be?"

The man moved his gaze away from the crew again, "Me." He said.

"What do ya mean you, you damn old geezer." Sanji shouted back who looked like he was about to climb over the rail of the ship to fight the old man.

Zoro placed his hand on the blond-haired man's shoulder in order to calm him, "Oi calm down you useless cook."

"Oi old man what is this place?" the swordsman asked prompting the man to once again look the crew's way.

"It's rude to not introduce yourself before ya start askin' questions you know." He said in a dry tone.

"Ah right sorry," Zoro amended awkwardly, not quite sure what to make of the man.

"My name's Crocus, I am 70 years old, and have been keeper of the lighthouse at Reversal Mountain for over 30 years, I have a faulty heart and an AB blood type."

"Don't ask me to introduce myself then do it yourself you old coot!" He roared now as angry as Sanji with a raised fist.

"At any rate, you should leave," the man stood up and pointed behind him with his thumb, "the exits that way." Nami suddenly came to the edge of the boat with a confused expression on her face.

"Wait ossan, you didn't answer the question, just what is this place?" she asked.

"This is the stomach of Laboon." He replied shortly, prompting Nami to frown.

"Laboon?" The old man sighed tiredly.

"Laboon is the name of the whale. He's an island whale, the largest species of whale on the planet."

Nami opened her mouth to reply but before she could do so the whole stomach began shaking as artificial waves began rocking the boat.

"Laboons started again!" the old man suddenly announced.

"Oi what's happening?" Zoro shouted as he gripped the railing for support. The old man didn't reply, instead running and diving into the water.

"Ah he's done a runner!" Usopp shouted as he watched the man submerge.

"Shit we better head for that door." Zoro said as he turned his gaze on the large double wooden doors large enough for a ship to pass through on the other side of the island.

A crash suddenly alerted all four of the strawhats as the small metal door on within the large double gates that they originally entered by were burst open as two unfamiliar people flew through the air and subsequently crashed into the water, shouting something about falling into stomach acid.

"What the hell was that?" Nami half-shouted as she leant over the rail of the ship to get a look.

"I dunno but we better get them outta there." Sanji commented with a raised curly eyebrow as he watched the strange two individuals flail about in the water.

With considerable effort and not before a gushing Sanji was dealt with by Nami for border sexually harassing the female stranger after seeing her wet shirt, the crew managed to get the two individuals aboard.

The first was a man with neatly combed orange hair wearing a crown He had strange markings on his cheek shaped like nines and wore a frilly green suit with an orange cravat. The second was a girl with light blue hair tied up in a high ponytail. She wore a turquoise coat with a diagonally striped light and dark blue vest and pale trousers. Both had a canon with them.

"I don't know about these guys, they look shifty." Usopp remarked as he looked over the pair.

"I know what you mean…" Nami agreed with a nod.

"Hey guys!" Came a sudden shout from the metal door that the odd pair burst through, "We're back!" the strawhats looked behind the pair to see a laughing waving Luffy and a smirking Naruto who had his arms crossed his chest.

Before the two could make their way down to ship the old man from before emerged from the water by the ladder leading up to the door and climbed up to the small platform.

"Oi old man Crocush, do you know who theshe two are?" A bloodied Sanji lisped through his bust lip.

The old man didn't have a chance to respond however as the two strangers suddenly jumped to their feet with a nasty smirk on their face.

"So this is Crocus?" The man said.

"Target acquired!" The girl said as the two swung round their canons and aimed them at the wall of the strange indoor environment, which also happened to be Laboon's stomach.

"Fire!" The man shouted as the two launched the canons.

The old man frowned and 'Tsked' to himself before jumping in the way of the two projectiles in order to protect the whale. Taking the hit directly to his torso, the man was flung into the water in a firing explosion.

"That crazy old man just took the hit by himself!" Zoro shouted with a frown.

"He protected the whale!" Nami added as she watched on also.

Both then turned on the two strangers to apprehend them. Before they could do, Luffy and Naruto appeared in a flash and with a swift kick from Naruto to the girl and a punch from Luffy to the man the pair knocked the individuals out.

"I don't know what's going on here, but whatever it is these guys seem bad!" Luffy laughed with a cheeky grin causing Naruto to adopt one of his own.

At this point the old man had climbed back aboard his island, looking unscathed apart from the slight burn to his shirt.

The strawhats and Naruto tied up the pair and took them aboard the island with them intent on asking the man a few questions.

"Oi old man who are these guys?" Naruto said as he hopped down from the ship.

"They're most likely hunters after the whale," Upon seeing the crews' confusion he continued, "Island whales are often hunted regularly as the meat of just one can feed a town for a whole year."

"Oh I see!" Luffy said as he clicked his fingers, "I wonder if whale has good meat…"

"Luffy! It's not the time to be thinking about meet!" Nami reprimanded with exasperation before turning to Crocus, "Do you think you could help us get outta here, Crocus-san?"

The old man huffed before turning on his heel, "Yeah sure just follow the little island in your ship." He said before picking up the restrained duo and dumping them on the smaller island with a palm tree while the strawhats jumped up onto the Going Merry.

The small island then began floating to a set of large double doors as the ship followed suit. Beyond the gate was a large waterway that looked like it had been haphazardly patched up with sheets of metal.

"To think all this is within a living animal, just makes you think huh…" Naruto whistled.

The old man looked up at the ship from his island, "There are stranger things on the grand line," he turned forwards again, "If you plan to sail the grand line you better for the strange, and the lethal."

Naruto watched the old man for a second with an analysing eye before turning his attention elsewhere.

Eventually they came upon another large set of gates that slowly opened as they approached giving way to the blue sky. The real blue sky.

"Ah I'm so happy we're out." Nami cooed as she stretched her arms up over her head.

The crew then anchored next to the small plot of land consisting of a lighthouse and a few palm trees.

"So old man, what's up with the whale then?" Zoro asked uncouthly as the man sat on a deck chair and the strawhats took in the sights.

"I suppose I better tell you all…" the old man looked over the crew and sighed, "Laboon first came to Reversal Mountain with a Pirate crew. He'd been with them since he was little and they'd travelled all the way from North blue together. Island whales normally travel in large groups of family and friends you see however to Laboon, they were his group," He then looked up at the whale before continuing, "When they arrived here, their ship was badly damaged so they stayed for repairs which took around 7 months. Over that time the crew, Laboon and I became good friends. When the time came for them to leave however they asked Laboon to stay here as the grand line would be too dangerous and so I offered to look after him. They promised him they'd be back in 2-3 years… Since they left, it's been 50 years…"

"50 years!" Nami exclaimed as she looked up at the whale, causing the man to nod solemnly.

"What kind of people would just leave one of their own behind?" Usopp shouted, obviously enraged.

"You forget, the grand line is a dangerous and unpredictable sea." The old man corrected with an edge to his tone.

"You mean…"

"Yes, Laboon's crew is most likely dead."

"Ossan why is Laboon still waiting here, and what's with him ramming into the red line?" Naruto asked drawing heads his way, having previously stood silent.

"A while ago I tried telling him that they wouldn't come back. That'd they'd either died or left without him. But he wouldn't listen. Since then he just sits in front of the mountain crying out and crashes into the red line. Hence the scars."

"Must be one hell of a whale…" Sanji commented as he too looked up at the gigantic mammal.

A sudden war cry broke the group out of their musings as they turned to see Luffy running up the side of the whale carrying what looked like to be a mast.

"What's that idiot doing now?" Nami asked rhetorically as she sighed, shaking her head.

"I dunno but isn't that your mast?" Naruto said with a slight grin.

"That idiot! That's our main mast! He broke the ship!" Usopp suddenly cried as he placed his hands on his head in despair.

Zoro and Naruto then burst out laughing as Sanji smirked and Nami and Usopp fumed at their captain's stupidity.

Just as they began to recover Luffy, once again out did himself, in a bout of outlandish stupidity.

"Gomu Gomu no flower arrangement!" the boy shouted before raising the mast above his head and slamming it down onto the whale's head, piercing its skin.

A second went by as nothing happening and a silence took over the crew, before the harsh pained wailing of Laboon scratched at their ears.

"Your captain just stabbed a whale with your ship's mast." Naruto commented plainly, with a faint smile.

"Ah that idiot!" Nami cried in exasperation.

"What's he doing? That's dangerous!" Crocus shouted as the whale began to flail from side to side while Luffy clutched to the mast with dear life.

The whale began to calm down and Luffy jumped off its head and while staring it down, punched it in the eye.

Laboon responded by head-butting the strawhat captain sending him flying along the ground and eventually crashing into the lighthouse.

"Luffy!" Nami cried as she rushed to check on the boy.

"Laboon!" He suddenly shouted causing the whale to look down at him, "It doesn't matter if your nakama are dead, or they aren't coming back. From here on out you've got us, and we'll be your namaka! And I'm gonna be your rival!" He steadily got to his feet, "I'm gonna travel the grand line, and when I come back, me and you are gonna duke it out again," He grinned cheekily, "How's that sound?"

The whale paused for a second before something akin to tears formed in its eyes and it let out an easier on ears cry of agreement causing the rest of the crew including Naruto and Crocus to smile also.

As the crew and Crocus began to both praise and reprimand the boy Naruto watched on with a sad serene smile.

Nami, noticing the blond's absence, the girl walked up to the boy and stood next to him, "You okay?" she asked nudging him with her elbow.

"Yeah," he said as he smiled at the girl.

"Well what's with the sad wishful look then?" she joked.

"I'm not depressed… or wishful!" he pouted half-heartedly before sighing, "watching you guys, makes me think of home you know. Well not necessarily home, more the people."

"Your precious people?"

He laughed shortly, "yeah… my precious people." They watched the crew converse a second longer, "You're lucky you know."

"Lucky? How?" she looked up at the boy with a confused frown.

"Luffy he… he may be an idiot. And dense. And brash. But, he is a good captain. He has what we call back in my village: the will of fire."

"The will of fire?"

"It's what we call a specific mind set if you will, a drive shown by our shinobi. In the village, when someone is said to have the will of fire, it means that they love, cherish and will fight to protect their village. To protect their home. It's what gives our shinobi the strength to fight on, and it's why we're the strongest of the hidden villages." He finished with a smirk.

"So you're saying Luffy has this 'will of fire'?" Naruto hummed in response, "But he doesn't belong to your village."

The boy rolled his eyes, "It's the principle Nami-chan, he may not have the village, but he has his goal and you guys." He smiled down at the girl causing her to blush faintly, "As long as one has something to protect, it's possible for them to possess the 'will of fire'."

"That was oddly eloquent coming from you." Nami grinned cheekily.

"Oi I can be eloquent when I wanna be!" the boy pouted childishly.

"Aaannd you lost it." Naruto lost his child-like act and again adopted his serene smile.

"You should go join in." The girl nodded in response before taking a few steps forward then spinning on her heel, her hands linked behind her back.

"You coming?"

He smiled lightly, "I'll be right there."

* * *

Yo thanks for reading, don't forget to favourite, follow and review. Next chapter should be up in about 1-2 weeks.


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